CIMB Group Completes First DLT Trade Financing Deal

The Singapore branch of CIMB Group, a major investment bank, has successfully completed its first trade funding transaction powered by blockchain technology based system developed by domestic trade funding firm iTrust Trading.

The platform, which handled the deal, also used Internet of Things (IoT) technology, in addition to blockchain.

By employing iTrust’s platform, which uses a combination of blockchain and IoT, CIMB aims to decrease the threats linked with commodity trade financing and enable credit extension for its clients by getting access to real-time tracking of the cargo information during transportation and in the warehouse.

The technology offers all participants with safe access and data integrity of electronic records that are stored on a distributed ledger.

Mak Lye Mun, CEO of CIMB Singapore, has opined that the deployment of the iTrust’s technology permits the bank to back its clients in an efficient and cost effective manner by negating fraud risks and forewarning any unauthorized transit of the funded cargo. The company also intends to advance its partnership with iTrust on technology applications in other markets.

The Malaysia headquartered CIMB Group is one of the largest Islamic banks and also the fifth largest banking group in the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations). CIMB Group has a market cap of $48 billion, has 36,000 employees, and operates in 16 countries.

Last November, CIMB Group Holdings, a subsidiary of CIMB Group, became a member of Ripple’s trans-border payments network to employ Ripple’s xCurrent for its payment processing service, dubbed SpeedSend.